From here to Split Rock, a day's journey west, the Oregon Trail followed two routes; one close to the Sweetwater River, and the other a little further from it but more direct.
Capt. Howard Stansbury commented August 1, 1852:
"...Frost during the night; morning clear, calm and very beautiful. The road passing occasionally through deep, heavy sand continued up the right bank of the Sweetwater. ...The valley is here nearly two miles wide, with rolling hills between the two mountain ranges, which...form its limits.
Stansbury was a federal topographical engineer who was mapping both emigrant routes and a possible right-of-way for the railroad.
Granville Stuart in his book Forty Years on the Frontier, wrote this about the Sweetwater River in 1852:
"...its beautiful clear cold water having a sweetish taste, caused by alkali held in solution...not enough however, to cause any apparent injurious effects..."
Devil's Gate Mail Station
The U.S. Post Office Department contracted monthly mail delivery that passed here going between Independence, Missouri and Salt Lake City, Utah. This service normally used light-draft wagons in summer and pack fuels in winter and remained the only mail delivery through here until late 1858. Devil's Gate mail station was located one half
mile south of the Gate.
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